Test-tube reader.



A. U. STEDMAN.

TEST TUBE READER.

APPLICATION man MAR. 11. law.

Patented May 7,1918.

W I iH V I ll III I ASHLEY U. STEIDMAN, OF WARSAW, NEW YORK.

TEST-TUBE READER.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May a, rare.

Application filed March 17, 1917. SerialNo. 155,439.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AsHLEY U. STEDMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Warsaw, in the county of Wyoming and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Test-Tube Readers, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to an 1mproved device to facilitate the reading of test tubes and bottles and more particularly to one, through the instrumentality of which, the operator may obtain the correct readmg of the test tube or bottle notwithstanding the fact that the graduations thereof have become faint or even not discernible; from usage or from other causes.

Continual use of test tubes or bottles results in the gradual wearing 0d of the graduations so that in a short time they become worn away to such an extent that they cannot be quickly read. Obvlously this detracts from the usefulness of the tube or bottle for accurate testing purposes and because of this condition my invention 1s, as set forth above, directed primarily to provide means whereby an exact reading of the tube or bottle may be obtained irrespective of the particular graduations thereon.

A further object of my inventlon 1s to provide a device of the character set forth above which is simple in construction and highly practical from both the standpoint of the manufacturer and the standpoint of the user; and which, it is believed, may be.

manufactured at a reasonable cost.

Various other objects and advantages will become apparent during the continuance of the following description.

1n the drawings:

The figure represents a view in front elevation of my invention showing the same as in its preferred embodiment; parts thereof being shown broken away and in secion.

In detail 10 designates a base or socle which supports an upstanding standard 11,

connection between the base and the standard being accomplished in any suitable or desired manner. Independently movable arms 12 and 13 respectively. radiate from the standard 11, each arm being provided with a sleeve 14 that embraces the standard and retains it in slidable relation thereto, while each sleeve carries a set screw 15 for frictional contact with the standard 11 whereby the arms may be held in the desired adjusted position. At their outer or free ends the arms 11 and 12 are provided with internally screw threaded ways 16 which ways receive the adjusting screws 17 and 18 respectively.

At their lower ends the adjusting screws 17 and 18 are provided with suitably milled head portions 20 and at their upper ends carry suitable supports 21 and 22 thatare adapted to receive, for example, the test bottles 23 and 24:. By this arrangement it will be readily seen that the vertical adjustment of the supports 21 and 22 may be effected by manipulating the .adjusting screws 17 and 18 while the vertical or horizontal adjustment of the arms 12 and 13 may be as easily accomplished. 1

Having now described in detail that part of my invention which relates to the sup porting and the adjusting of the test tubes or bottles I will now set forth in detail the preferred means for obtaining an exact reading of the used test tube or bottle, such as indicated in the present instance by the numeral 23.

The standard 11 is further provided with a longitudinally slidable sleeve 25, which is in turn provided adjacent its lower end with a set screw 26 whereby it may be held in certain adjusted ositions on the standard. Another sleeve 2 is slidably mounted on the sleeve 25 as clearly shown in the drawing, this sleeve carrying a projecting arm 28 which extendsin parallelism with an arm 29 that is carried by the sleeve 25. Adjustment of the arm 28 with respect to arm 29 may be accomplished by means of an adjusting screw 30 which has one end journaled in the arm 29 and its intermediate portion passed through a screw threaded opening 31 in the arm 28. Both arms carry reading points 32 and 33 which, as shown in the drawing, may be moved in proximity to the graduations of the test tubes or bottles. When in use it has been found desirable to provide means to retain the arms 28 and 29 in vertical alinement and at the same time furnish means to facilitate the partial rotation thereof from one test tube or bottle to the other. With this in view I provide the arm 28 with a depending rod 34 which extends through a suitable openin 35 in the arm 29, its lower end portion 36 orming a suitable operating portion. By this arrangement it will be seen that while the arms are always held in verticalalinement adjustment of the arm 28 is not at all interfered with. It will also be noticed that the operating portion 36 of the rod 34 provides means whereby the operator may swing the arms rotatively about the standard 11 as desired.

In operation assuming tnat the graduar tions on the test tube or bottle 23 have become worn or mutilated to such an extent that they cannot be readily read and it is desired to obtain an exact reading of the accumulation in the tube or bottle such as indicated by the darkened portion in the drawing, the test tube or bottle is placed on the support 21, while a new test tube or bottle or one havin clear and distinct graduations is place on the support 22. The support 22 is then adjusted so as to bring the reading point 33 of the arm 29 in horizontal alinement with the lowermost graduation of the bottle 24 and allowed to remain in that osition. The operator then adjusts the ad usting screw 17 with one hand so as to bring the adjusting point 33 in alinement with the lower edge of the fatty accumulation in' the bottle 23 and adjusts the screw 30 with his other hand to bring the reading point 32 in alinement with the upper edge of the fatty accumulation.

The operator then grasps the operating portion 36 of the rod 34 and moves the'arnis 28 and 29 into the position shown in dotted lines in the drawing whereby he may at a lance obtain an exact reading on the bottle 24 which corresponds exactly to the amount of the fatty accumulation in the bottle 23.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A device of the character described comprising a base, a standard carried by said base, carrying arms adjustably mounted on said standard, test tube supports adjustably carried by said arms, ,a sleeve rotatively mounted on said standard, an indicating arm radiating from said sleeve, a second sleeeve adjustably mounted on said first named sleeve, an indicating arm projecting from said last named sleeve, means. to retain said indicating arms in vertical alinement, and means to adjust said second named arm vertically with respect to saidfirst named arm.

- ASHLEY U. STEDMAN. Witnesses:

HARRY Wonoo'rr, JAMES H. SHAW. 

